Department of Information Science, Tel: +44 (0) 1509 22 3052  Loughborough University

Evaluation of the pilot deployment of Mobile Data Terminals in Leics Constabulary Response Vehicles

Funded by Leicestershire Constabulary

Evaluation of the pilot deployment of Mobile Data Terminals in Leicestershire Constabulary response vehicles

Project staff: Dr Louise Cooke, Dr Tom Jackson, Rachael Lindsay

Duration: April – May 2008

Description

Leicestershire Constabulary are piloting the use of Mobile Data Terminals (MDTs) by officers responding to incidents. During a two-week period, response vehicles will be equipped with the MDTs, allowing officers real-time access to Crime and Intelligence systems and giving them the ability to input crime and incident reports directly onto the systems. It is anticipated that this will deliver considerable savings in terms of use of officer time as well as performance improvements in key areas such as crime resolution, public visibility, data quality and public perception.

The aim of the pilot evaluation is to ensure that lessons learned from the pilot will enable Leicestershire Constabulary and its stakeholders to derive maximum benefit from the wider implementation of MDTs in terms of efficiency and effectiveness of business processes and use of officer time. In order to achieve this aim, specific project objectives are to identify and quantify benefits and concerns arising from the use of MDTs relating to areas such as:
• Usability, functionality and speed of devices
• Technical reliability and robustness
• Security of devices
• Ergonomics and health and safety
• Levels of officer acceptance
• Impact on use of officer time, workload, street visibility
• Impact on use of support staff time and support processes.

The evaluation will adopt a multi-method approach including semi-structured focus groups, questionnaires, task analysis and work shadowing.

Contact
Louise Cooke
Department of Information Science
Loughborough University
Loughborough
Leicestershire
LE11 3TU

Tel: +44 (0) 1509 228058
Fax: +44 (0) 1509 223053


 

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